As I became more proficient in communicating in Mandarin, more doors for ministry opened up for me. Most of the members of the choir at Ren Ai Baptist Church were college students, and some were members of another singing group. Rev. Lin Jr Ping and his wife Jang Shao Feng, were very involved with students, using the arts to reach out to the college community. The group was called “Christian Arts Fellowship.” Each fall they would collaborate to produce a drama, sometimes based on Chinese historical events or legends. Mrs. Lin (Chang) was the playwright, Mr Lin the director, and the students served as actors, stage hands, etc. The purpose of the dramas were to raise questions about life (often theological in nature) that had religious implications, questions which many students and intellectuals would appreciate. Following the presentations, discussion sessions were held for all who were interested, to provide a forum to deal with the questions raised in the course of the drama. Rev Lin and his wife would provide Christian answers to these issues, thus offering an opportunity to present the truth of the gospel message.
In the Spring, Rev Lin and the students would form a singing group, giving concerts in churches and concert halls throughout the island. Through my contact with the Ren Ai church choir, I was introduced to Rev. Lin, who invited me to direct the group. In my first experience directing this Fellowship choir, the first performance included “The Crucifixion” by Stainer. The second year, we did “Calvary’s Mountain,” by Allen with narration added by Mrs. Lin.
At this time, Calvary Baptist Church, an expat church on Grass Mountain, Taipei was without a pastor. One of our missionaries was serving as interim pastor, and he requested my assistance with the music. Naturally, I wanted to be of service, but I was involved with the Ren Ai choir on Sunday morning. However, the Youth Choir at Calvary sang on Sunday evenings, when many missionaries attended, so I agreed to work with them. Most of the young people were MK’s (missionary kids) and had fairly good voices. Christian folk musicals were very popular during this time, and it seemed like a good idea to include one of them in the repertoire of the choir. The Young People sang very well, and performed the musical to a packed auditorium at Calvary.
Rev and Mrs.Lin had also opened a “coffee house” in Taipei, another attempt to reach the younger generation of Chinese. When I shared with them about the musical the Calvary Young People had performed at the church, they invited the group to come sing for the patrons at the coffee house. We gladly accepted, and while the audience was much smaller, and the language was English, the reaction was one of sincere interest. Mrs. Lin (Jang Shau Feng) who was a playwright, and wrote most of the plays the Fellowship performed, was very impressed with the contemporary version of English. A day or two later, she presented to me a dozen or so short verses, written in contemporary Chinese expression, all addressing concerns and needs of Chinese young people. She said that this was the first poetry of its kind, written in a free style that represented the kind of expression that most Chinese youth could understand and relate to. She asked if I would try to set some of them to music, a daunting task to say the least.
One of the poems that appealed to me was entitled “I’m always waiting. (Wo dzungshr dzai deng).” The text addressed at least one of the challenges Chinese young people face–waiting. The form was in ABA form (two parts with the first part repeated.) In the first part, the text indicates that they were always waiting–they wait for busses, they wait ;to grow up, they wait for someone to come and express love for them. Day after day, year after year, season after season, they always wait. The second part shares the truth that Jesus is also waiting, waiting for them to come home.
Here is a copy of the text in Chinese. (Note that the author is Ms Jang, and the composer is Lai Ming De–my Chinese name)
In a short time, the melodies came to me and I jotted them down. As our Radio-TV studio was preparing a television program to be broadcast over one of Taiwan’s three television stations, I asked if we could include this song. Permission was granted, and it seemed proper for the presentation to include an Erhu (Chinese two-stringed fiddle ) 二胡 as a part of the accompaniment. Here is a picture of one.
